New in Town: Drum Studio in Yardley

Gregory Tech Drum Center, a new state-of-the-art drum teaching and recording studio in Lower Makefield Township, offers private drum instruction on professional drum sets. Owner Peter Gregory is a drummer with over forty-five years’ experience playing and recording in many different styles; he has also been teaching for over thirty of those years. He is well-versed in contemporary and traditional styles of music, and has performed with various jazz, rock, R&B and fusion bands. Peter helps his students explore the possibilities of the drum kit, encouraging experimentation while emphasizing the use of proper technique.

It is the Gregory Tech Drum Center’s technology that sets it apart. HD video cameras are positioned around the student’s and instructor’s kits; the images from the cameras appear on three flat-screen monitors, which can be split to show side-by-side views of teacher and student hand and foot movements. The monitors can also show instructional drum videos and music videos streaming from the internet. The cameras allow recording of each lesson, which is burned to a DVD so students can take the lesson home. There is also a webcam by which parents can watch their child’s lesson. The Center also offers remote online drum instruction; online teaching videos; and remote drum recording.

Peter trained at The Berklee College of Music in Boston before moving to New York City in 1985. In NYC, he worked with such artists and ensembles as Ralph Towner, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, The Ink Spots, The Marvelettes, The Coasters, The Crystals, Candido Camero, Gary U.S. Bonds, and The Big Apple Circus. In addition to teaching privately, from 1991 to 2000 he was a percussion instructor at The Juilliard School with the Music Advancement Program, a program dedicated to bringing music to inner-city children. In 2006, Peter moved back to his native Denver, Colorado, where he played with Richie Cole, Nelson Rangell, and other jazz and blues artists. He also played for the 2012 production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Peter and his wife, classical singer and teacher Abigail Chapman, relocated to Yardley in October 2016.

Gregory Tech Drum Center’s Grand Opening celebration is happening August 26, 2017 from noon to 8pm. Festivities will include a ribbon cutting ceremony, reception and demonstrations of the studio.